I’ve just returned from an interesting short seminar entitled Optimizing Your Local Online Presence presented by some local Patch.com reps at Connect113 in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

I am familiar with local Internet marketing techniques but was only tangentially aware of Patch.com which is kind of like a combination of an old-fashioned local newspaper with a new-fangled online community and business directory.

I’m not going to give a long treatise on the vagaries of Patch.com. Instead I encourage you to do five things:

Spend some time browsing the web site to get a feel for what it’s all about

Become a member of your local Patch in your company’s name

Create or Claim and Optimize your company’s listing on Patch

Subscribe to their daily newsletter

Post comments and reviews in your company’s name

I don’t think your Patch.com listing will be as important or beneficial as say your Google Places listing. But I am convinced that this is a critical local online community that you need to be an active part of.

Over the course of my life and career, I have been witness to a number of technological revolutions. Based on my experience, Social Media cannot be ignored by any business as a critical marketing and brand communication channel. It is here to stay. Until the next thing comes along.

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The Customer Factory provides marketing training, classes, seminars, workshops, courses and classes to small business owners in the United States, Canada, Central America,South America, the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. We offer online marketing training, live marketing training and small business marketing consulting.